This week the Jamaican Tory pays special tribute to a noble man who in his life embodied most of the values values that the Jamaican Tory esteems as honourable, upright and patriotic this person is none other than the Right Excellent Sir William Alexander Bustamante affectionately called “Chief”, Jamaica’s first Prime Minister and National Hero often credited as the father of modern Jamaican conservatism, Sir Alexander would have celebrated his 129th birthday today had he been alive.
He was born as William Alexander Clarke in Hanover on February 24, 1884, to a mixed raced couple he spent his early years growing up in rural Jamaica before going off to explore Latin America as a young man it was there that he befriended a Cuban sea Captain who had such a great impact on him that he changed his surname by Deed Poll to Bustamante, he also began making use of his second name of Alexander rather than his first given name of William. In 1932 he returned to Jamaica and began to take an interest in political matters by writing to the Daily Gleaner and also got involved in the Trade Union Movement by starting out as General Secretary of the Jamaica Workers Union, he later went to establish his own Bustamante Industrial Trade Union. As every schoolchild in Jamaica ought to know, modern politics in Jamaica and the rest of the Caribbean developed from this alliance between unions and political parties. Bustamante was for a short while placed in prison by the then colonial government but did not stay long thanks to the efforts of his influential cousin and political rival Norman Manley who was credited as the best Jamaican lawyer of his time. Bustamante upon coming out joined Manley’s People’s National Party (PNP) but later withdrew his membership as he was opposed to the PNP’s radical views which were inched towards establishing socialism in Jamaica, he founded the Jamaica Labour Party in 1943 as conservative movement to counteract the PNP’s proposed revolution. Even though both Manley and Bustamante wanted Jamaica to be free of crown colony rule, the conservative JLP wanted Jamaica to have full Dominion status within the British Commonwealth similar to Canada and New Zealand, Bustamante though anti-colonial was fiercely loyal to the Crown and was once quoted as shouting in one of his political rallies “Long Live the King but Denham must go” to which Governor Denham traitorously responded “There is only one king in King’s House” he was of course referring not to King George VI but rather to himself by falsely claiming to be King of the island.
He was born as William Alexander Clarke in Hanover on February 24, 1884, to a mixed raced couple he spent his early years growing up in rural Jamaica before going off to explore Latin America as a young man it was there that he befriended a Cuban sea Captain who had such a great impact on him that he changed his surname by Deed Poll to Bustamante, he also began making use of his second name of Alexander rather than his first given name of William. In 1932 he returned to Jamaica and began to take an interest in political matters by writing to the Daily Gleaner and also got involved in the Trade Union Movement by starting out as General Secretary of the Jamaica Workers Union, he later went to establish his own Bustamante Industrial Trade Union. As every schoolchild in Jamaica ought to know, modern politics in Jamaica and the rest of the Caribbean developed from this alliance between unions and political parties. Bustamante was for a short while placed in prison by the then colonial government but did not stay long thanks to the efforts of his influential cousin and political rival Norman Manley who was credited as the best Jamaican lawyer of his time. Bustamante upon coming out joined Manley’s People’s National Party (PNP) but later withdrew his membership as he was opposed to the PNP’s radical views which were inched towards establishing socialism in Jamaica, he founded the Jamaica Labour Party in 1943 as conservative movement to counteract the PNP’s proposed revolution. Even though both Manley and Bustamante wanted Jamaica to be free of crown colony rule, the conservative JLP wanted Jamaica to have full Dominion status within the British Commonwealth similar to Canada and New Zealand, Bustamante though anti-colonial was fiercely loyal to the Crown and was once quoted as shouting in one of his political rallies “Long Live the King but Denham must go” to which Governor Denham traitorously responded “There is only one king in King’s House” he was of course referring not to King George VI but rather to himself by falsely claiming to be King of the island.
In 1944 Jamaica had it’s first general elections under Universal Adult suffrage which was won by the JLP but he still did not become Chief Minister until 1953 even though he was leader of the majority as the Governor still remained as head of the executive until that time, Chief was however elected chairman of the KSAC and Mayor of Kingston in 1947. In 1955 his luck changed as he lost the elections to the PNP and became leader of the opposition but felt compensated after being made a Knight Bachelor by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II later that same year .
By the mid-1950s the new buzzword was federation, this idea proposed that all the colonies within the British West Indies should unite under a single banner and gain their independence from British rule under one flag, this idea was initially supported by both Her Majesty’s Government in the United Kingdom as well the local political elite including the Chief, interestingly neither Sir Alex nor Manley contested seats in the Federal Parliament instead choosing to focus more on Provincial politics even though they were both recognized as leaders of their respective parties, Bustamante for the right and Manley for the left . Even though I’m a huge fan of the Chief I must say that choosing to withdraw his support from the federation later on was a mistake yet that was precisely what he did, with pressure mounting from all sides Premier Manley had no choice but to call a referendum on the matter, the resulting was a resounding NO for federation and YES for independence. Next came the writing of Jamaica’s constitution this was done be a team of statesmen and legal experts on both sides of the political divide, the bi partisan committee took weeks to decide on what form of government we should have and even though not everyone on the committee approved both Bustamante and Manley were fiercely adamant that Jamaica was to be a constitutional monarchy based on the rules of British styled parliamentary democracy, there was talk that some wanted Jamaica to be either a US styled Presidential republic or an Parliamentary Republic based on the Irish model, the two political giants of the time utterly rejected this idea, a very wise choice as far as I’m concerned for that I’ll be eternally grateful , contrary to erroneous propaganda put out by republicans there is no evidence to suggest that Bustamante nor Manley wanted a republic in fact the very constitution that we have now is proof enough that they were both loyal monarchist, their struggle was against colonialism not the monarchy.
Following the writing of the constitution another general election was held to see who would form the first government of the Dominion of Jamaica, the JLP won and Bustamante was appointed Premier which would be automatically transformed into Prime Minister on August 6, 1962, he was made a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire and appointed as the first West Indian member of Her Majesty’s Privy Council, a month later he married his former private secretary and longtime mistress Miss Gladys Longbridge. Jamaica prospered under the Chief’s tenure as he stuck true to the principles of good old fashioned Toryism as a model for social and economic development, he has also careful not to have any dealings with the radical communist regimes of his day by proudly proclaiming that “Jamaica is with the West”, he was respected by many internationally and held audiences with great like-minded men such as Sir Winston Churchill and Emperor Haile Selassie I.
The Chief received many accolades and awards over his lifetime some of them already mentioned but none was in comparison to the Order of National Hero that was awarded to both himself and Norman Manley for their great contribution to the founding of the modern Jamaica, the Order of National Hero is the highest and most prestigious award that Jamaica could give to one of its loyal subjects . Sir Alexander retired from active politics in 1967 and spent 10 long years enjoying the fruits of his labour before dying at the ripe old age of 93 on August 6, 1977 exactly fifteen years after he first became Prime Minister of our fair island dominion.
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